treats

I went to the yarn shop yesterday. And I treated myself. I could tell you all the reasons why I deserved a treat (and they would be true), but I don’t want to. I think the blogging world tends to justify itself and its yarn purchases far too often. We all seem to have fallen into this strange cycle of having to deserve the things we enjoy, or at least having to prove to others (and ourselves) that we do.

Well I’m not playing that game anymore! I wanted some treats. And I always deserve treats. Let’s all say it together… Because I’m worth it… ;)))

And now let me tell you about my treats. First off, I’ve been wanting to try some Malabrigo Sock yarn. Being a new sock knitter and all, and agreeing with Playful that Malabrigo is made out of buttered kittens, how could I not… I did look for it online, but any shade I was drawn to seemed to have been sold out. At the yarn shop there wasn’t a huge selection of colours, and I dithered around a few wondering if I really liked them, when this little thing popped out from the back.

Blue has totally been my colour for the last year or so (Do you go through these colour phases too? Mine seem to last forever…), so I was a bit cautious at first that I was just going for blue as usual. But then I saw the name of this colourway: Impressionist Sky. Something clicked in my head. Yes! I am a huuuuuge fan of the impressionists, when I lived in London I used to go to the Tate and just stare at the big Monet canvas forever… And as I read the name of this colourway, I could practically see it spilling over that canvas and filling in the sky colours. In my humble opinion it is spot on. There was not much dithering after that. (And the reason the skein is so messy is because me and my house-mates couldn’t stop playing with it :)

Second up is a colour I pretty much had on my mind on my way to the yarn shop. I wanted terracota red/orange for at least one pair of socks and I was delighted to find the perfect shade.

Even better, it’s a yarn I’ve been wanting to try out – La Droguerie Surnaturelle. It’s a fingering weight and seems perfect for socks, though strangely there is only one sock project made out of it on Ravelry. This is making me think that I’m missing something about this yarn, but I guess I’ll just try and see. The yardage is a bit on the skimpy side in comparison to the Malabrigo (383 vs. 440 yards) and the shop owner did not seem terribly optimistic about the idea of getting a pair of socks out of one skein, but I’m determined to prove her wrong.

She had many many shades of this yarn and once I had it in my hands it was hard to limit myself to only one. This one also called to me. And it was treats day! ;)

As you can tell, all my choices were very vivid colours. It’s not by accident. I’ve found that when looking at projects on Ravelry I tend to fall in love with those made out of vividly-coloured yarns, but when I am at the yarn shop I gravitate towards pastels. I am determined to change that a bit, thus all these wonderful strong tones.

And when I put the latter two together in the bag, I realised they don’t even look half bad next to each other! I did not buy them with the intention of combining them, but perhaps they’re telling me something…  :)

All in all – great day, great treats, great projects cooking up in my mind… :) Tell me, which one do you like best? And are you inspired to go treat yourself? ;)